Disney
The tag team of Disney’s “Moana 2,” Universal’s “Wicked” and Paramount’s “Gladiator II” led the five-day Thanksgiving holiday to the biggest in cinema history — an estimated $420 through Sunday. Million.
“A perfect storm at the Thanksgiving box office, powered by a trio of films in the musical, epic drama, and family film genres, is most beneficial for reviving the theatrical market after a post-summer slump. The moment has arrived,” said Paul Dergarabedian. , Senior Media Analyst at Comscore.
“Moana 2” led the frame with $221 million for the five-day period, a significant outperformance over the competition. Box office analysts had initially expected $100 million. It marked the biggest Thanksgiving weekend performance for a film of all time, surpassing 2019’s “Frozen II,” which earned $125 million during the period.
“Wicked” continued to soar with $117.5 million in estimated ticket sales for the holiday, bringing its domestic total to $262.42 million. It is now the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation of all time at the domestic box office. Globally, the film stands at $359.2 million after 10 days in theaters.
“Gladiator II” added $44 million over the Thanksgiving weekend. It has grossed $111.2 million in domestic ticket sales during its first 10 days in theaters and an estimated $320 million worldwide since opening internationally earlier this month.
“There is no shortage of words to describe the historic weekend we’ve seen in movie theaters,” said Sean Robbins, Fandango’s director of analytics and founder of Box Office Theory. “When a film exceeds expectations in the way ‘Moana 2’ did, that alone is a big story. When fellow tentpole films like ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ do well at the same time.” If it does, it’s a powerful reminder of the continuing importance of film in preserving our culture.”
According to data from Comscore, the Thanksgiving holiday has not exceeded $200 million so far in 2019. And, before this weekend, only one Thanksgiving period had exceeded $300 million.
The previous record was held by the 2018 slate, which was led by “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Creed II” and “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.” These titles helped gross a combined $315 million in ticket sales.
This year’s outperformance at the box office during the Thanksgiving period has also helped narrow the gap between 2024 and 2023. The 2024 box office was hit hard after twin labor strikes in Hollywood last year, halting production and pushing several major blockbuster releases to 2025 and beyond.
Heading into this holiday period, the 2024 box office was down 11 percent from last year’s numbers. It now lags just 6.4 percent, according to Comscore data.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “Wicked” and owns “Fandango.”